Decadent Dulce de Leche sauce made easy

Top ice cream with a dulce de leche sauce made in a pressure cooker/Matthew Mead, Associated Press

Some folks love the flavor of Dulce de Leche, a rich and decadent sauce that can be used to top ice cream and cakes, or flavor frostings and drinks.

The sauce, also known as “candy of milk,” is typically made by heating a can of sweetened condensed milk until it caramelizes.

AP Food Editor J.M. Hirsch discovered another way to make it using a pressure cooker (first risotto, now this?!).

Here he offers a story on how he got reacquainted with his pressure cooker after discovering it could be used to make this tantalizing South American treat.

And if you’re looking for more culinary treats and recipes, be sure to check out today’s Great Tastes! in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

A shortcut method that’s been around for years involves slowly simmering an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a large pot of water. This several-hour approach slowly caramelizes and thickens the contents of the can, resulting in outrageously rich dulce de leche with the consistency of peanut butter.

There also is the possibility — albeit a remote one — that the can could explode (if the pan ran dry). Still, enough people have used this method over the years (to the legal angst of the canned condensed milk companies) that most cans of condensed milk now carry warnings urging you not to do that.

But with the pressure cooker, you can more safely and more quickly get the same results. I’ve described my method below, which is ridiculously simple.

So what do you do with the dulce de leche once you’ve made it? Assuming you get beyond just eating it by the spoon, try it over ice cream, spread in a peanut butter sandwich (instead of jam), spread over cream cheese on a bagel, dip pretzels in it, spread it over a cooked plain pizza crust, then sprinkle with dried fruit and coconut … and so on.

For a sweet/salty treat, dip pretzel sticks into a dulce de leche spread/Matthew Mead, Associated Press

Pressure Cooker Dulce de Leche

For a dulce de leche with a more intense caramel flavor, you can double the cooking time in the pressure cooker to 40 minutes. The rest of the recipe remains the same.

Start to finish: 30 minutes, plus cooling

Makes a 14-ounce can

14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Set a metal steamer basket in the bottom of a large pressure cooker. Fill the pressure cooker with water up to its max fill line.

Remove the label from the can of sweetened condensed milk. Set the can on its side in the water on top of the steamer basket. The can must be completely submerged and not be in contact with the sides or bottom of the cooker (the steamer basket should prevent this).

Clamp on the pressure cooker’s lid according to manufacturer’s directions. Bring up to pressure over medium-high heat. Once the cooker has reached pressure, reduce heat to just maintain pressure. Most pressure cookers will hiss lightly at this stage, but refer to your model’s directions.

Cook for 20 minutes.

Transfer the entire pressure cooker to the sink and turn on cold water to run over it and cool the cooker. After 5 minutes, the pressure should be released and the cooker should be cool enough to open. If the cooker resists opening, this means the pressure is still too high inside to open. Continue running cold water over it.

Let the can cool overnight undisturbed in the pressure cooker.

The unopened can should be stored at room temperature as you would any canned good. Once opened, refrigerate for up to a week.